NYT Accuses Free Beacon of Defaming ‘Doggie Hamlet’
Defends performers running and chasing sheep as moving piece on 'what it means to be a citizen of the world'

doggie hamlet

BY: Elizabeth Harrington Follow @LizWFB
April 10, 2017 4:59 am

The New York Times is defending a taxpayer-funded production of "Doggie Hamlet," claiming the Washington Free Beacon missed the point that the outdoor sheepherding dance performance was really about "what it means to be a citizen of the world."

A 1,200-word endorsement of "Doggie Hamlet" published in the dance section of the print edition on Sunday argued the Free Beacon‘s report failed to put the proper context about the performance in which no lines of Shakespeare are spoken, but several people run around in a field with sheep and dogs.

"But Is It Art? In the Case of ‘Doggie Hamlet,' Yes," the headline for the piece written by Gia Kourlas reads.

The Free Beacon revealed the funding of "Doggie Hamlet" by the National Endowment for the Arts in December. Dartmouth College's Hopkins Center received $30,000 for a series of performances, including Ann Carlson's "Doggie Hamlet," which the Free Beacon described as featuring "actors yelling and running at sheep in a field in Vermont."

The Times bemoans that modern dance is "too easy to make fun of," and claims the Free Beacon did not delve deep enough into the performance that was inspired by the Oprah book club.

"At first glance, it doesn’t seem like a performance," writes Kourlas, a 2016 fellow at the Center for Ballet and the Arts at New York University. "The stage is a meadow, and the score is a collection of sounds, including the commands of a dog handler and the pounding of hooves. A woman extends her arms while four sheep, trailed by a determined dog, trot in a circular formation. In quick cuts, we see bigger flocks—a blur of curly wool and strong snouts—race by. Moments later, a young man holds a sheepskin and spins, before collapsing onto the grass."

"Is it silly? Is it pretentious? Is it art?" Kourlas asks.

More at the link

“The further a society drifts from truth the more it will hate those who speak it.” … George Orwell